Press Release  AG Campbell Co-Leads Coalition To Support Assault Weapons Ban In Cook County, Illinois

BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, along with Attorney General Matt Platkin of New Jersey, has co-led a multistate coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the case Viramontes, et al. v. The County of Cook, et al. The brief calls on the Court to uphold the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ determination that Cook County’s ban on selling and possessing assault weapons is consistent with the Second Amendment. 

“Extensive evidence demonstrates that gun safety regulations protect our residents and the public while not undermining the Second Amendment,” said AG Campbell. “Assault weapons are meant to kill and are not for self-defense, thus why we have used every tool available to defend commonsense gun laws in Massachusetts, and I’m proud to help other jurisdictions do the same.” 

The original lawsuit was filed in August 2021, when a group of pro-firearms activists challenged the legality of Cook County’s regulations on militaristic assault weapons. In March 2024, the District Court ruled in favor of Cook County, but the plaintiffs have now appealed that decision.  

The brief argues that Cook County’s law properly promotes the safety and wellbeing of its residents, and that various Courts have concluded that reasonable gun regulations can comfortably coexist with the Second Amendment, as assault weapons are not commonly used for self-defense and, further, the ban on their sale and possession is consistent with the principles underpinning our nation’s history of firearms regulation. 

This matter is the latest of AG Campbell’s efforts to combat the nationwide gun violence epidemic. Recently, the AGO helped to inform a nation-leading gun bill that prohibits untraceable ghost guns, bans devices that convert guns into automatic weapons, creates provisions that help keep people in crisis from harming themselves or others, and strengthens requirements for obtaining a license to carry. Last fall, AG Campbell also launched the Gun Violence Prevention Unit (GVPU), which has leveraged the tools of the AGO to enforce and bolster the state’s nation-leading commonsense gun laws.  

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Grace Gohlke of the AGO’s Constitutional and Administrative Law Division and Deputy State Solicitor Anna Lumelsky. 

Signing onto AG Campbell and AG Platkin’s brief were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. 

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